FIRE chiefs are planning to set up their own company to bring in funds as they try to offset £14m of spending cuts.

FIRE chiefs are planning to set up their own company to bring in funds as they try to offset £14m of spending cuts.

Tyne and Wear Fire Authority members were yesterday asked to agree a new round of potential cost-saving measures as the latest projections reveal the £4.5m of cuts already taken from the brigade are just a taste of what is to come.

The force will now look again at spending cuts including a reduction in the number of fire engines, reducing fire prevention work with teenagers and young offenders and, in an attempt to plug the funding gap, the creation of a new company selling fire safety services.

At a meeting to discuss the moves, fire authority members also raised the possibility of station cuts, with members asking if Private Finance Initiative-built fire stations would need to have their contracts bought out ahead of any potential closure. Fire crews already raise some income through charging for services such as additional firefighting training courses.

But fire and rescue services are not allowed under law to trade, and to roll this out further they would need to set up a trading company, a move which has been tried in other areas.

Behind the move is the latest funding projections which show that by 2017 the force is likely to have seen some 30% of its grant slashed, with around £12m to £14m going.

Already the cuts have led to staffing and engine reviews, with some stations now only open during working hours.

Nick Forbes, the Newcastle City Council leader who sits on the fire authority, said potential changes showed the unfair nature of Government cuts.

He added: “The fact that we are having to look at deployment and level of fire appliances shows that nothing is off the table when it comes to the impact of Government cuts.

“The size of these cuts will undoubtedly impact on services.” Dave Turner, secretary of the Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade Union, said the next round of spending cuts would come close to putting lives at risk.

“We are right now at the minimum acceptable level for providing a fire-fighting service, and any further loss to fire fighters or engines will see lives put in danger,” he said.

“And what we need is for our senior fire officers here to be as forthcoming about this as officers elsewhere have been about the effects of these cuts.”

Today chief fire officer Tom Capeling said: “The service, like all public sector organisations, has been faced with cuts since 2010 and is facing further cuts to its budget.

“We won’t know exactly what that will be until early in 2013.

“There is no doubt we will have to make changes to the way we deliver our service and we will do this in a planned way and we will do everything possible to minimise the impact to the public.”